I've been trying to play Civilization 4 on my dimension 8400. I was having a error with the game and it would terminate because the video memory was too low. I went out and bought an ATI Radeon X1300 video card in hopes that that would solve the problem. I'm still having the same problem. Is there any way to allocate more video memory, am I missing something here? Please help if you have any suggestions.

 

Thank you

The X1300 should definitely do the trick for the game such as Civ4.  I've been playing Civ4 all weekend on my 8400 with the nVidia 6800 GS.  The X1300 isn't so much more advanced than the X300, but either one should be able to run that game fine.

 

To start ruling out problems, you should go ahead and run a 3dMark05 benchmark, with the X1300 in the machine. 

 

Post back your score and let's see if 3dMark05 has any trouble running its benchmarks.

 

 

Here are the test results. I'm having problems with the video memory. If you have any ideas, they would be greatly appreciated.System Configuration
General Information Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows XP DirectX Version9.0c Mobo ManufacturerDell Inc. Mobo Model0J3492 AGP Rates (Current/Available)N/A / N/A CPUIntel Pentium 4 3392 MHz FSB800 MHz Memory1022 MB
Display Information Graphics ChipsetATI RADEON X1300 Driver NameRadeon X1300 Series Driver Version6.14.10.6599 Driver StatusWHQL - FM Approved Video Memory256 MB Core ClockN/A Memory ClockN/A
Benchmark Settings Program Version3DMark05 Revision 2 Build 0 Resolution1024x768@32 bit Anti-AliasingNone Texture FilteringOptimal Vertex Shader Profile3_0 Pixel Shader Profile3_0 Force Full PrecisionOff Disable DSTOff Disable Post-processingOff Force Software Vertex ShadersOff Color MipmapsOff Repeat CountOff
Main Test Results 3DMark Score2759 3DMarks CPU Score3537 CPUMarks
Detailed Test Results
Game Tests GT1 - Return To Proxycon12.6 fps GT2 - Firefly Forest8.4 fps GT3 - Canyon Flight12.7 fps
CPU Tests CPU Test 12.0 fps CPU Test 22.8 fps
Feature Tests Fill Rate - Single-TexturingN/A Fill Rate - Multi-TexturingN/A Pixel ShaderN/A Vertex Shader - SimpleN/A Vertex Shader - ComplexN/A
Batch Size Tests 8 TrianglesN/A 32 TrianglesN/A 128 TrianglesN/A 512 TrianglesN/A 2048 TrianglesN/A 32768 TrianglesN/A

Your 3dMark05 score looks OK as well as 3dMark05's recognition of the graphics drivers you are using.

 

Therefore, for the memory error, you need to look at other things.

 

Although your install of XP might be corrupt, I would check a few hardware things first.

 

Burn a CD of MemTest86 and let it run several passes on your RAM.  In order to create a MemTest86 CD, you'll need an ISO burner program.  One free one is Alex Feinman's ISO burner. (free, for XP)